I'm giving it three because I did get pretty far and did actually want to finish it, but the book just dragged on for too long, so I didn't finish, soI'm giving it three because I did get pretty far and did actually want to finish it, but the book just dragged on for too long, so I didn't finish, sorry.

Each chapter is just short and gives no real information.From reading the first few chapters you could kind of see where everything is going, so I'm really not interested in seeing how it ends.

Predictable... girl thinks she knows the boy, boy makes her feel good and safe and sexy, girl is young and wants to escape her life and home and mother, girl marries boy, girl realizes what boy really is, blah blah blah, and then it just draaaaags on about all the wheelings and dealings that go.

If you love a good suspense detective novel in the lines of the great Deon Meyer, then you'll be sure to love Chris Karsten's work.

"Die verdwyning vanIf you love a good suspense detective novel in the lines of the great Deon Meyer, then you'll be sure to love Chris Karsten's work.

"Die verdwyning van Billy Katz" is a gripping novel focusing on a young female detective who has to figure out where severed (and embalmed) feet came from that was dumped in a public park. These feet get dumped by a petty criminal. It's simply impossible that he could have committed the crime, so our little detective has to dig deeper, and once she starts digging her case gets linked to an old cold case, the disappearance of one Billy Katz. The story is filled with intrigue and Mr Karsten also keeps you pinned to your seat with a back story that starts in the past, but is somehow linked to the current mystery.

The characters are described in such a way that you can see them in your minds-eye, you want to know more about them, yet Mr Karsten leaves enough to your imagination that you can mold them to what you'd like them to be.

It was great reading a mystery novel that has a lead female character, although she did come across as weak at times (but who wouldn't, after the ordeal she's been through in past books) she's very well written and I find myself rooting for her!

Our male lead in this book is complex in the way he is portrayed (if that makes sense?). We get to know him as a young police officer and then again when he is older, and gets involved in the case with our lovely detective. This character is (to me) better written, we get a bit more of his history and why he acts the way he does, a very interesting read.

I picked this one up over the weekend, just for some light reading. I've read After You from Ms Moyes recently and I really do like her style of writiI picked this one up over the weekend, just for some light reading. I've read After You from Ms Moyes recently and I really do like her style of writing. Her writing reminds me a lot of Freya North, who I absolutely LOVE! This was easy to read, the story was sweet and you really feel for the characters. Poor Jess is hopeless, she struggles to keep her head above water but she is a great mother to her two children. Then there is Ed, the millionaire... and obviously you'd think Ed will be there to rescue Jess from her financial turmoil, but you'd be wrong. Poor Ed faces some struggles of his own.

I've always been partial to a good British chick book and Ms Moyes definitely gets a thumbs up from me....more

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they leaROOM - EMMA DONOGHUE

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

I recently received this book as a gift, just during all the hype surrounding this book was making the rounds, and I’m glad I read the book first before attempting to watch the movie.

The story is about a 19 year old girl who is abducted and kept prisoner by Old Nick for 7 years. Her prison is a room she’s kept in, equipped with a stove, wardrobe, light, bath, sink, TV, toilet, bed and skylight, the only way to see the real world. During these 7 years she has a baby that she names Jack, who when the book starts has just turned 5.

The story is told from the mouth and mind of 5 year old Jack. To Jack Room is his whole world. He has no idea what the real world looks like, apart from what he has seen on TV. But to him the “real world” is like a different planet, something he cannot really fathom. All he knows is Room with her four walls covered with cork, he knows the wardrobe where he has to sleep at night when Old Nick visits his mother, he knows nothing else but what is inside Room and the things his mother teaches him. The story gets a twist when Ma (the mother) decides that it’s finally time to escape, to show Jack the real world that he has been missing out on. The plan is risky and solely dependent on Jack and his courage. The plan works and they escape into a world Jack has never seen.

The rest of the story is how Jack and Ma adapt at being in the real world. For Jack it is understandably very hard as he has no reference of the real world to work from. They face a multitude of challenges but persevere.

I really did try to enjoy this book, and I did in part. For me it just got a bit much at the end, they had escaped and to me that could have basically been the end, to know they were safe. Of course we all want to know what happened to them, but personally that bit was stretched out too much. Another thing that started bothering me was the fact that the book was written from Jacks mind and his vocabulary, which is hard to read. Like I said, the first part I really enjoyed and hoped that they would escape, but when that was done the book kind of lost its appeal to me.

I must admit that I will still like to see the movie, to compare the adaptation. Let’s hope I don’t get as board at the end....more

If you like a good psychological thriller, then this one is a great read for you.

Abi has suffered a severe tragedy in her life, the loss of her identIf you like a good psychological thriller, then this one is a great read for you.

Abi has suffered a severe tragedy in her life, the loss of her identical twin sister. She’s gone through a lot after all of this to get to the place in her life where she is now. She has moved to Bath, closer to her mother and father, where she tries to regain some of her independence by living alone in a flat, but things aren’t going so well. Being alone does not do well for Abi, she’s practically given up her job as a journalist and living on her savings. But things start to change when she sees Beatrice on the corner of a street in Bath, handing out flyers. Bea looks so much like Abi’s lost sister.

Bea lures Abi to her home to help out with an open house visit of artists work. Beatrice, it turns out, makes jewellery for a living, although Abi quickly realises this is not her only means of income, Beatrice is also from a very wealthy family. Abi then becomes fast friends with Beatrice and moves in to Beatrice’s beautiful home in Bath with some other artists, and Bea’s brother Ben. Interesting twist, Ben is Bea’s twin brother, which makes Abi believe she’s really met her soul sister. Everything seems to be going really well, until Ben falls in love with Abi and Bea seems to be a bit too controlling and protective of her twin. Strange things start happening to Abi and she feels like she’s losing her mind. Precious letters go missing, she finds weird photos in her closet, a dead bird on her bed and she sees things that no one else seems to be seeing. Another thing, it turns out that although Bea might be wealthy, Ben seems to be less fortunate. Abi starts to think that this is Bea’s sick way of warning her to stay away from her brother, that only she has control over him and what he needs. But things are far from what they seem.

This book is an easy read, it’s one of those you find hard to put down because around every corner there is a new surprise, a new twist, and you find yourself wanting to read just one more page to see what will happen. The final plot twist was really something I did not expect at all. It kept me on my toes and I could really feel the anxiety that Abi was feeling, the shame, the hurt, every emotion.I think if you’re really looking for a quick and interesting read that is not too heavy and yet not too light, you may really enjoy this one. ...more

With a missing girl in the news, Claire Scott can’t help but be reminded of her sister, who disappeared twenty years ago in a mystery that was never sWith a missing girl in the news, Claire Scott can’t help but be reminded of her sister, who disappeared twenty years ago in a mystery that was never solved.

But when Claire begins to learn the truth about her sister, nothing will ever be the same.

I love a good mystery, and I know Karen Slaughter is one of the great crime mystery writers. Her book “Pretty Girls” did not disappoint. Mixed with some suspense and horror it made for a very exciting read.

Claire Scott is a wealthy, privileged socialite type married to Paul, a successful architect who provides a good life for the both. Claire has a bit of a past. When she was a young girl her eldest sister was abducted and never heard from again. Eventually she was presumed dead. This has caused disruptions in Claire’s life, her parents’ divorce, her father’s suicide and the absence of her middle sister from her life for the past 20 odd years.

When tragedy strikes Claire yet again she is plummeted into a world of lies she never knew existed and she feels that her only help and salvation will come from her sister, the same sister she has not seen for 20 years.

It’s here that the two sisters start to learn the sinister secrets about the abduction of their eldest sister and the lies that surround it. Claire’s life is thrown upside down and she learns things of someone she love dearly, things that make her skin crawl. Together the sisters unlock the filthy life of someone that was so close to their family. They also learn that you cannot always trust the people in the world that you were taught as a child to trust.

In the end they will learn what happened to their missing sister and so many other missing girls over the past few decades.

The book kept me on my toes, it kept me thoroughly enthralled and I could not read or turn the pages fast enough to find out what was around the next corner. The life of Claire and her sister Lydia are completely capsized by the horrid events that have taken place in their past and the horrid things that are taking place in the present.

For the first few pages I really hated Claire, the poor spoiled younger sister who married a man who became too rich for his own good. The beautiful trophy wife who has been told her whole life how beautiful and talented she is, the girl who had it all. It was only when tragedy struck that I got to see the real Claire, the Claire she was before her family started disintegrating. She becomes a very strong character, along with Lydia, in this book, and it’s always fantastic to read about a self-empowering woman in any novel.

The ending of the book is satisfying, which also makes a great end after you’ve bitten your nails raw reading the entire story.

If you love suspense, mystery, crime and some horrific details this read is definitely for you!...more

I entered a competition and won this book. I must admit that although I have heard of Ms Moyes, I have never read any of her work. I was also a bit skI entered a competition and won this book. I must admit that although I have heard of Ms Moyes, I have never read any of her work. I was also a bit skeptical as this was the second book of the Me before you series, and I had not read the first. Despite my reservations I read the book (I mean if I get a lovely free book, why would I not read it) and I loved it.

The story obviously chronicles the life of Lou Clark after Me Before You (where something happened, which I won't spoil for those who have not read the book). This event has changed her life dramatically, and just as she's starting to kind of regain everything in her life an uninvited guest shows up and thrusts Lou's world into chaos. She ends up back at her parents home to recoup, and when she returns to her flat she joins a support group for people who have lost a loved one. At first she doesn't feel that she fits in but in the end these people and their stories help her more than she realizes.

Her uninvited guest also ends up as a regular part of her life, forcing Lou to deal with people and issues that she thought she could avoid. This guest also makes her realize that she can move on with her life, be the Lou she was before the tragedy occurred.

I really enjoyed the book and it was easy enough to pick up on what this big tragedy / event was that happened in her life, so the book was easy to read as a stand alone. I loved the characters and could live myself into this book and see these characters, cringe when something happened to them and imagine their entire lives. Sometimes Lou really did something so irresponsible that I wanted to slap her, or tell Lily that she was being a brat. All the scenes were well written and capturing.

I'm not going to lie, this book might well make you cry, and don't worry, because it's worth it. It's a beautiful story of how when something horrible happens some of us just want to curl up and die, but life goes on and we need to move on. Just because that one thing happened does not make you a different person.

I got a bit confused, but liked the story.Only thing was, the person I thought the whole story was about only featured in less than half the book.I diI got a bit confused, but liked the story.Only thing was, the person I thought the whole story was about only featured in less than half the book.I did, however, meet Mat Joubert and cannot wait to read more about him!New favorite character along with Bennie Griesel ...more

Have you ever read a book and felt like you couldn’t read fast enough, you couldn’t find out fast enough what would happen. This is what happened withHave you ever read a book and felt like you couldn’t read fast enough, you couldn’t find out fast enough what would happen. This is what happened with The Girl on the Train. The more I read the more I needed to read, the more I could relate to how Rachel was feeling, I could envisage myself having those black-outs, not knowing what goes on around you, that guilty feeling in your gut the next morning, the way people make you feel even more useless than you already do, the way they bully you, put you down. The worst part is where they lift you up just a little, just to smack you back to the ground.

I had heard about this book from some friends of mine, I haven’t been doing too well on the reading front this year, and after they recommended it I thought I’d give it a shot. It went a bit slow at the start, I thought I’d get bored of the book and end up not finishing it, but the more I read the more intriguing it became. Poor Rachel, the ex-wife, having to ride the train past her old house, her old life, you really start to feel for her. Things start to get interesting when she sees something from where she sits on the train. She has to alert the authorities, but the thing is, Rachel is a drunk, so who’s going to believe her?

The book was written from the perspective of three women, Rachel (the ex), Anna (the new wife) and Meagan (the neighbour). Something terrible happens, something that shoves Rachel back into a part of her old life, back into the lives of Anna and Tom. But she needs to figure out what really happened, but she can’t face it, can’t remember.

I really enjoyed the book, probably because I really felt for Rachel, I so desperately wanted someone to believe her, to help her. I cringed every time a guy put her down, like she wasn’t worthy, just because she drank a lot and was a little overweight. But that’s what made me want to finish her story, because I wanted to know whether she gets a bit of a happy ending or not.

If you like a good murder mystery, go ahead and read it. If not, don’t bother, you’ll be bored.I thought it was good, so I hope you do to.

I want to give it 4 out of 5 stars, but some parts were a bit rough to read, so I’ll give it 3.5...more

For a young adult book I think it's very well written, it's an easy read that doesn't really bore you. I enjoyed it the first time, and I'm happy to rFor a young adult book I think it's very well written, it's an easy read that doesn't really bore you. I enjoyed it the first time, and I'm happy to report that I enjoyed it again....more